WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The Polisario Front, the last remaining liberation movement fighting for independence in Africa, contested an earlier UPI report that it could be turning to Islamist organizations and organized crime.
In an article titled "New danger in Africa" published earlier this week United Press International cited a European intelligence think tank stating that the Polisario could be turning to radical Islam.
The Polisario, originally founded in 1973 is also known as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro. It initial leaned toward a somewhat socialist ideology but quickly abandoned it in favor of a free-market economy.
The information regarding the Islamist threats and the Polisario was made available to UPI by the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center, a Brussels-based think tank specializing in terrorism and intelligence.
Ahmed Boukhari, the Polisario's representative at the United Nations in New York, refuted the allegations, insisting that his organization, fighting for the independence of Western Sahara, was "a clean movement that does not support terrorism."
The Polisario's man at the U.N. insisted there "is no proof of the Polisario supporting or welcoming Islamist movements.
More that one analyst familiar with the Polisario's history and its political structure believe it is unlikely for a group such as the Polisario, particularly given its support from Algeria, to turn to radical politicized Islam. But stranger things have happened in politics.
In his rebuttal Boukhari "regretted the publication of some paragraphs of a biased study on the Polisario Front" by the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center. He accused the Brussels think tank of being "no more than an advertisement for Moroccan propaganda."
"They had had no contacts whatsoever with any of Polisario officials, facts which put seriously in doubt the objectivity and impartiality of their work. ...All the allegations in the report are baseless, far from reality.
"Trying to sustain the contrary...is almost equivalent to sustain that the pope will on day become an Iranian 'mullah,'" said Boukhari.
Boukhari accused Morocco's King Mohammad VI and France of exerting pressure on the United Nations to delay a long-awaited referendum through which the Sahrawi people could decide their own future.
"France says international legality was not respected in Iraq, but it does not respect international legitimacy in the Western Sahara," said Boukhari.
Boukhari pointed to the fact that the Polisario is not on the U.S. State Department list of terrorist organizations, and went on to accuse Morocco of wanting to claim the Western Sahara for its natural resources.
"We have phosphates, the richest in the world," Boukhari told UPI. "The region has the most fish and possibly oil -- offshore oil."
He denied reports that the Polisario was drafting children into its armed forces. "You might have seen photographs of other parts of Africa and confused them with the Polisario," he said. "We have no one in the military under the age of 19."
As for accusations that the Polisario had detained Moroccan prisoners for up to 30 years, Boukhari said, "In all wars there are prisoners." But not all are detained 30 years.
Perhaps the great-untold story in the Western Sahara conflict is how involved the United States has been working behind the scenes to get prisoners released and defuse the tension. There have been several interventions by former Secretary of State James Baker, who succeed in obtaining the release of about 100 Moroccan prisoners in 1997.
A year earlier, a first group was released thanks to efforts by President Bill Clinton and then president of Argentina, Carlos Menem. The Polisario claims Morocco still holds 150 of its people prisoners and 526 are still missing.
Morocco virtually annexed the northern two-thirds of the territory formerly known as the Spanish Sahara in 1976. Mauritania withdrew and recognized the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, or SADR in 1979.
Following Mauritania's pullout, Morocco annexed the rest of the territory. A guerrilla war with the Polisario Front contesting Rabat's sovereignty ended in 1991 when the United Nations brokered a cease-fire agreement. Yet a proposed referendum on the territory's final status has been repeatedly postponed.
Still, despite the Polisario's political stance, due to severe economic conditions, several analysts believe the region offers a potential breeding ground and recruitment center for militant Islamists. All the more reason for a comprehensive settlement.
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